We need you to contact your Nashua Aldermen and Alderwomen about the passing Nashua's version of the NH Resolution for Fair Nonpartisan Redistricting.

Here is a link to a PDF of the resolution being proposed by Alderwoman Jan Schmidt:   Nashua Resolution   Our thanks to Alderwoman Schmidt for bringing this forward. 

Speak or Submit Written Testimony

Two meeting dates are coming up, if you wish to attend or speak to support the resolution.   It appears that Nashua does TV broadcasts of the meetings, but not Zoom or online interactive access.  

Monday, April 5, 2021, 7 p.m.:    Speak, or submit written testimony, to June M. Caron, Chair, Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee  (If you wish to speak the mic will be open after the opening (best time) and at closing (still fine)    

Tuesday, April 13, 2021, 7:30 p.m.:  Comes before the full Board of Aldermen,  speak or submit written testimony to Donna L. Graham, Legislative Affairs Manager.  (Best time to speak is at the beginning)

Send an Email to Committee Members

Here is sample language for your email, but please use this as a guide and make the email authentically from you.   We suggest you email your alderman/woman, plus the members of the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee. 

Dear Alderman/woman _____________:

I just heard that the Board of Alderman will be hearing a resolution supporting fair nonpartisan and transparent redistricting.   Versions of the NH Resolution for Fair Nonpartisan Redistricting have now passed in 44 towns, including the cities of Lebanon, Keene, Franklin, Dover and Durham.

I think this is important because even though the City of Nashua does fair ward districts, the state's track record for fair voting maps isn't as commendable.  There seems to be something about going to serve in Concord that makes our leaders sometimes forget that they work for the people, not the parties.   I'm one voter who thinks that we need a level playing field for this, so that voters can vote and know that the system isn't rigged for one party or the other.    

Please commit the City of Nashua to drawing its own fair districts, and make sure our state legislators and the Special Committee on Redistricting are put on notice, too. 

Thank you for your service to our city!

Your Name

Your Address

Nashua

Other talking points:

• This is a NONPARTISAN resolution that has passed in Red towns and Blue towns
• Partisan data should not be used to manipulate the voting maps
• When voting districts are manipulated, the voters don't get the representation that they should for their area
• Voters in gerrymandered districts get frustrated and apathetic, and give up on voting, because it doesn't matter
• Voting districts should be compact, have "communities of interest" like school districts, neighborhoods, or economies
• Some of our elected officials say there isn't any gerrymandering, but not all gerrymandering has squiggly lines!   Look at Hudson, 24,000 population & Pelham, 13,000 population, combined in one district, but each should have its own representatives. 
• All the voters want -- of any party or independent -- is a fair, nonpartisan and transparent process.

Nashua Board of Aldermen, as of March 2021

* = Members of the Personnel/Administrative Affairs Committee, where Nashua's Resolution for Fair Nonpartisan Redistricting will be heard.

*JUNE M. CARON, Ward 7, [email protected]

*BEN CLEMONS , Alderman at Large,  [email protected]

RICHARD A. DOWD , Ward 2, [email protected]

LINDA HARRIOTT-GATHRIGHT, Ward 9, [email protected]

ELIZABETH LU, Ward 6, [email protected]

ERNEST A. JETTE , Ward 5, [email protected]

*SHOSHANNA KELLY , Alderwoman at Large, [email protected]

PATRICIA KLEE, Ward 3, [email protected]

BRANDON MICHAEL LAWS, Alderman at Large, [email protected]

*THOMAS LOPEZ , Ward 4, [email protected]

MICHAEL B. O'BRIEN, SR , VP Board of Aldermen, [email protected]

*SKIP CLEAVER , Ward 8, [email protected]

JAN SCHMIDT , Ward 1, [email protected] ****Sponsor of the NH Resolution for Fair Nonpartisan Redistricting****

DAVID C. TENCZA , Alderman at Large,  [email protected]

LORI WILSHIRE, President, Board of Aldermen, [email protected]

Carol Shea-Porter, Chair. – former member of Congress (D-NH); politics and history teacher; founder of a non-profit social service agency

John Broderick – former Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court; former Executive Director of the Rudman Center at University of New Hampshire Law School

Brad Cook – partner and past President of Sheehan Phinney Law Firm; Chair of the New Hampshire Ballot Law Commission

Lew Feldstein – past President of the NH Charitable Foundation; co-author of Better Together: Restoring the American Community

Paul Hodes – former member of Congress (D-NH); attorney; member, National Council on the Arts; founder of the Economic Innovation Institute

Joe Magruder – former News Editor, Associated Press of New Hampshire

Lillye Ramos Spooner – Director of Operations for Greater Manchester AIDS Project; former member of the NH Commission on the Status of Women

Stephen Reno – Executive Director of Leadership New Hampshire; former Chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire

John Rauh – former President of Americans for Campaign Reform, now part of Issue One; former Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate

Jim Rubens – entrepreneur; former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate; former New Hampshire state Senator

Betty Tamposi – Assistant Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush; as a state Representative, was Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee; former member of the Board of Governors of the University of New Hampshire

Dan Weeks  – co-owner of ReVision Energy; former Executive Director of Open Democracy

** Affiliations listed for identification purposes only. Advisory Board members serve in their individual capacities.